Statist Fallacies: Corporations Would Take Over

Fallacy: “In a stateless or anarchist society, corporations would take over.”

Response: Corporations are a product of the state. A corporation is a legal privilege granted by the state to limit liabilities of the individuals owning/managing/working for the company. Without a state, corporations as you know them now would be very difficult for anyone to form. Sure, companies and firms would exist to provide goods and services, but the individuals behind those companies would be open to every liability that you would face as an individual. They would have no special legal protection as they do under the statist-corporatist system that exists today. This would make amassing the levels of political and economic influence that today’s corporations have far too difficult to achieve and far less valuable to achieve. With no state to write and enforce your laws for you (see IP, licensing, etc.) corporations would have to focus their energies on providing competitive products and services that individuals demand.